How Times Square “Go Gold” Missed An Important Opportunity and How To Make It More Meaningful.

How Times Square “Go Gold” Missed An Important Opportunity and How To Make It More Meaningful.

I’m so excited to see that Times Square went for Gold this past week. It must have been a spectacle to see more than a dozen of the digital screens on “The Great White Way” illuminate gold to help heighten childhood cancer awareness. Landmarks like Times Square and One World Trade Center that light up gold helps bring national attention to a disease that kills more children in the United States “than many other childhood diseases combined.” Kids diagnosed with cancer today have a 90% survival rate compared to the survival rates in the 1950s. In fact, a cancer diagnosis in the 1950s was typically viewed as a death sentence. Today that is not the case!

So where was the missed opportunity for Times Square and One World Trade Center? As you can see from the Times Square mockup the missed opportunity was featuring photos of kids who have been diagnosed with cancer. Most people don’t help raise money only because they are “aware” of childhood cancer but that cancer kills children. Adult cancers can be prevented but childhood cancer cannot.

Childhood cancers are not related to lifestyle factors, and little can be done to prevent them. – St. Baldricks Foundation

When you cannot prevent an enemy from attacking you must be prepared to attack it at it’s first sighting. In addition, increased funding for meaningful and demonstrated research can help limit the effects and time that a child is treated for cancer.

So in addition to finding cures, a lot of research is focused on preventing the lifelong damage that results from surgeries, radiation and chemotherapies given while young bodies and brains are just developing. – St. Baldricks Foundation

Are national landmarks going gold for childhood cancer awareness during childhood cancer awareness month a good thing? Of course it’s a good thing. Families worked very hard to make Times Square and Tower One go gold. We cannot thank them enough for their dedication and tenacity. But, when available, lets be innovative in showing the face of childhood cancer as well. Companies like Obscura can help create light show presentations on large edifices that will engage audiences in a meaningful way. When there is an opportunity to create a better life for the most innocent in our society it is our duty to find creative ways to do so.